Averting Cat-astrophe (Retrieving the Package)

Wearing her traditional outfit of white t-shirt and desert camouflage shorts with boots and a backpack loaded with supplies, Leona hurried to the town of cat-people with her ram dao in hand. Their delivery of food had not yet arrived and they had reason to suspect that the delivery person had met with foul play. That by itself would make for an interesting job.

However, Leona would not be working alone. She would be working with a mage from the guild called Crystal Swan. She had heard various things about the guild. Some said that they were a collection of artists. Others claimed that Crystal Swan was a guild of adventurous archaeologists. Today she hoped to learn a bit more about the group.

It was true that one member did not have a complete picture of a guild, but hearing the truth from a Crystal Swan member was better than going on hearsay from the street. Anyway, it was time to enter the town. Leona was not getting paid to daydream. She was getting paid to find out what happened to their food delivery and bring it to them. She walked through the open gates and was greeted by a trio of cat people.

Two of them wore iron armor and carried shields and spears. They looked to be tigers with orange fur and black stripes. One had a scar over its right eye while the other had a thin white beard. The third wore elaborate robes that were blue and gold in color. She looked to be a tiger as well, only a white one with black stripes. They seemed pleased to meet her.

"Its scent is new." The guard with the scar commented about Leona.

"Hello young one. I am Felicia, the mayor of this town." The one in robes said to her.

"Hi there. I heard you had a late delivery?" Leona inquired.

"Yes. You see, we made a contract for a delivery of food at the first of last month. As you can tell, it still has not gotten here. We have been living off of emergency stores for a month." Felicia explained.

"And you think something happened to the delivery person?" Leona asked.

"Yes. We have not heard anything from them all this time." Felicia explained.

"Well then. Looks like our work's cut out for us. As soon as my partner gets here, we'll get going." Leona informed Felicia.

"Splendid, young one. Now tell me. What is your name?" Felicia asked the blonde.

"Leona. Leona Jarnefeldt." The blonde answered.

"Leona? That is an interesting name for a human. Hopefully you can live up to it." Felicia commented. Leona kept quiet. She did not want to antagonize the client.

"Its clothing is strange." The scar-faced guard added.

"Yes. It cannot hide from our sight, not with the clashing colors it wears. It stands out from afar." The bearded guard chimed in. Leona muffled her displeasure and said nothing. She was a mage, not a fashion model.

"What guild do you represent?" The bearded guard asked.

"Silver Wolf." Leona replied before rolling up her right shirt sleeve and showing her guild tattoo to the trio.

"You humans have interesting names for your magic organizations." He opined.

Leona looked at the town. It looked like a typical town in Fiore. It had houses and paved streets and street lamps. She had expected something like a primitive village or a rustic farming community. Aside from the food problem, the town looked to be doing well for itself.

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Aura looked down at her storybook and read it joyfully as she walked down the road to the neko village. She never actually realized how wonderful the stories about the gingerbread man actually were. There were so many variations Aura had never even heard of. She looked back at the first time she heard the story. It was when she was 4. She remembered being so ready to listen to the one story she hadn't ever heard of. She remembered as her father looked down at her in joy, and began reading the words of the uncatchable gingerbread man. It was like it was yesterday for Aura, but now she could never even have a moment close to that. She felt a pang of sadness hit her face as she began to frown in despair. She felt a tear roll down her cheek in memory of her father. For some reason, this hit her hard. She couldn't remember all of it, probably because she tried hiding it away in the back of her mind, but she still could feel the pain coming from it. She had no idea why it was that she was crying. From what she could remember, it was a happy memory. However, she would have to try and keep the tears away because she was nearing the gates of the town.

As she looked through the entrance of the gates, she saw what looked like 2 guards with someone more royal in between them. Aura believed that the middle one was probably the mayor of the village. Something was odd about them though, they had the ears and tails of cats. It was as though they were cat like humans. Even though Aura knew this surprising info from the start, it was still astonishing to actually see it in person. They weren't any celestial spirits, or dangerous monsters, they were living, breathing, humanoid cats. Aura pinched herself and wondered if what she was seeing was real, but as she did it, she realized that it was truly real. Aura walked towards them and began a conversation. She greeted them and said, "Well hello there. I'm Aura Sparks from the guild of Crystal Swan. I am here to work on the whereabouts of your package." The cat people didn't really care about Aura, so they just rolled their eyes and pointed to the other direction. Well, at least the 2 guard like people did. The mayor however just smiled and said to Aura, "We already talked about this with the other recruit. Maybe you can go talk to them instead." Aura smiled at the female neko and said to her, "Thank you very much." As she walked by, she "accidentally" swept the guard's feet with hers. She looked down at them and helped them back up. With a sincere voice, but devious smile, she said," Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry about that, let me help you both up." As she helped them get back on their feet, Aura felt the anger emitting from them. However, Aura didn't care and just began walking towards her partner.

As she walked up to the Silver Wolf girl, Aura waved a little wave towards her. As she began to get closer, Aura began to greet her new acquaintance. With a smile, Aura stretched out her hand, looking for a handshake and said, "Hello there, I'm your partner. Aura Sparks, from the guild of Crystal Swan. It's nice to meet you, and I hope we can work through this job in good terms with each other." With that, Aura looked at the new person and waited for a reply.

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Leona was concerned about what Aura did. She was worried that the cat-people were going to cancel the job and put a bounty on both their heads. Leona really did not want to have to look over her shoulder any more than she had to. The blonde took a deep breath and tried to think of something to say that could mollify their clients. What could she say?

"Now that my partner's here, we'll get going shortly. We just need to plan our approach." Leona said to the trio. The guards were still angry over what Aura did, but they managed to contain it. For now. They looked at Leona with a critical eye. Leona turned towards Aura.

"I'm Leona. Leona Jarnefeldt. I'm with Silver Wolf." Leona extended a hand in friendship. Unless the clients tried to kill them first, the blonde hoped that Aura attacking the clients would be a one-time thing. Putting that incident aside, Leona was ready to work with the Crystal Swan mage.

"I believe we'll make a good team. I don't care who takes the lead. All I care about is us getting the package, bringing it back here, and going home alive." Leona informed Aura.

"Listen well, young ones. Our situation cannot persist for much longer lest our emergency food supplies be depleted. We have high hopes that you two can retrieve our food delivery. Should you succeed, both of you will be rewarded for your efforts." Felicia chimed in. Leona did not like the sound of the last sentence. She hoped that the reward did not include being eaten by hungry cat-people.

"Humans are strange ones. They seek wealth and glory above all else. Helping others is secondary. Let us hope that they do not help only for personal gain." The bearded guard commented. Leona fumed. She had had about enough of sarcastic remarks from the cat-people. Again she kept quiet.

"M'iaq, please. These young ones answered our call for help. Be courteous to them." Felicia urged the older guard.

"I apologize for my rude behavior, humans. I am worried that my family will run out of food. It is hard to watch the town suffer like this and be unable to do anything about it." M'iaq apologized. Leona cooled down. She did not think he was lying to get out of trouble. Back homes she had been through lean times before and knew from experience how prolonged hunger affected people. She remembered that when she was twelve, a dismal harvest left a lot of people hungry and irascible... a minor insult could set off a chain of events that culminated in a fistfight or even a sword fight.

"We'll get your food back. Even if I have to bring it back box by box, I'll get it back for you." Leona assured them. She turned to Aura. The well-dressed young mage looked like she was ready to travel. So was Leona.

"I'm ready to go whenever you are, Aura." Leona said to her teammate, hefting her ram dao onto her shoulder for easier carrying.

"Good luck, young ones. We are counting on you!" Felicia called out to them.

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Aura shook Leona's hand and smiled delightfully at the presence of the new girl. As she heard the goals of Leona, she found it very giving of Leona's personality. Aura replied with a smile, "Those are some very valiant goals, I am very glad I get to work with someone like you." She then wondered what it was like to be in the guild of "Silver Wolf" but she didn't have the time to ask right now. For the time being, she had to listen and pay attention. Although she wanted to enlarge the book, currently attached to the star chain on her right thigh, she couldn't because she actually had to know what was going on with the job. As she listened in, she heard about the awful food shortages the village was going through because of this mishap. Aura gasped in sadness as she heard about this awful thing. She remembered the time when this happened to one of the villages she visited in the last few years. It actually went through the same thing, but instead, it was because of the drought the town was going to. Aura thought that it could be the same thing, because things were not being delivered in each village. For one, it was the water, and the other, it was the package of food." So, Aura said to the mayor, "I completely understand your problems here. I myself have traveled a lot and visited many towns over my years of being along. I've met so many good people that have bared witness to the awfulness of hunger. I hope I can help with this before more bad things can happen." Aura nodded towards the mayor with a sympathetic nod, and received one from the mayor as well.

Aura then listened to the apology coming from the bearded guard that she tripped from before. Aura listened and felt a bit of guilt hit her as the reasons for his crude behavior entered her mind. She truly understand how the loss of something important, like things to care for your family and town, can make you distant from help and care. Aura had felt that herself when she lost her parents in the fire. She remembered how distant she was from her old friends, and how saddened she was when she realized that she couldn't help her parents when she was locked out in the back. She walked over to the neko and said to him, "I truly am sorry for tripping you earlier. I guess, I just can't take people who are rude anymore. After losing my family in a house fire, I guess I couldn't really take people who were just mean and rude for no reason. To me, it was no way to live life. That was why I explored the world, and even why I decided to be a guild mage. I know its hard but you'll get through it. I'm almost positive that me and my partner will be able to give you back the food you need." Aura put her heart and soul into that few bits of lines, and she truly meant it. She knew that this neko was going through a lot. He needed someone to comfort him, and Aura knew that she could hopefully be that person for him. The vulnerable cat man in front of her gave a nod back to her, knowing his body couldn't take the thought of thanking her. Then, he went back to his stone cold exterior and went back to formation near the mayor.

As Aura walked back over to Leona, she said to her with a determined voice, "I'm ready to go. We have to do this for the people of this town. I don't want this place to end up like the other villages I've gone through. I won't let it." As she looked over to Leona, she began to walk forward in hopes that they would be able to save this town, unlike some of the other towns she's visited. She clenched her fist in determination, that her and her newly found partner would be able to actually save this town from famine.

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Leona listened to Aura speak concerning her priorities. Maybe Leona was too eager to please. Maybe she gave up opportunities to take charge and be a leader because she was afraid of responsibility. Perhaps those charges were true. But when a town was running low on food and counting on her, Leona had no problem putting her ego aside.

"Let's go, Aura. That food isn't gonna find and deliver itself." Leona said to her companion.

-Three hours later-

Leona followed the trail that Felicia said the delivery person was taking to reach the town. It was a good idea to go down that trail. Maybe the pair could find some clues as to where the delivery went. She had a feeling that the mayor was right and that it was stolen. Otherwise they would have at least heard from the company by now.

"I don't know what kind of trouble we'll run into. We might be going up against amateurs. We might be going up against professionals. Either way, we need some sort of plan." Leona opined as the pair walked down the road. It was quiet. Except for them talking, there was no sound whatsoever. That was never a good sign.

"Notice how quiet everything is?" Leona asked Aura. Leona slowed down so that her footsteps would not be as loud. She then spotted a dark patch in the road surrounded by small holes. She walked up to it and knelt down for a closer look. It looked like dried blood.

She took a closer look at the side of the road. She saw what looked like small spots of blood staining the grass. It had been there awhile. Leona stood upright and walked back to Aura.

"I think I found the site of the ambush. See that dark patch in the road? I believe that's blood. There's what looks to be a trail of droplets going into the brush nearby." Leona opined to her companion. The holes looked like arrows or spears had been used, maybe even swords. Leona was no forensic expert, but it did not take one to see that something bad had happened.

"This is gonna sound really dumb, but I bet the culprits are nearby. They're probably counting on someone coming to investigate. I'll scout a bit ahead." Leona said to Aura before going back to the stain and following the trail of droplets. She moved slowly, being careful not to upset the trail she was following. She had disappeared into the brush and was moving slowly when she was rewarded by spotting a streak of dark substance.

Creeping along the best she could, she followed it to its conclusion. What she saw was grim. She saw decapitated bodies lying at the feet of stakes with severed heads driven on top of them. The blood from the heads dyed the stakes crimson.

"Looks like we've found new prey." Someone said aloud.

"She can't hide in that clothing. White and tan really sticks out in the brush!" Another man said.

"I call dibs on her sword!" Someone else claimed. Moments later twelve armed men popped up. Leona was alone and badly outnumbered. She turned to run when someone jumped in front of her.

"Hey, where ya-" The man in front of her started before Leona knocked him aside with the flat part of her blade and broke through the brush, mildly cutting herself in the process. Ignoring the minor cuts to her arms and face, the blonde raced to Aura's side.

"Aura, we're gonna have company!" Leona warned just before the armed gang followed her out and blocked the way forward. Playing hero like she did was undoubtedly dumb. But with a stronger mage at her side, Leona just might make it through this adventure.


[Word Count: 630] [Total Word Count: 1,744/4,000]

Aura waited behind the bush as Leona walked right into it. Wondering what she was doing, Aura decided she should take a look. However, the second she began to open up the brushes, she heard a clang of metal and footsteps running towards her. Aura backed away and wondered what could've possibly happened in the short amount of time she went through those bushes. As Aura saw the shaking of the bushes, she enlarged her book to be prepared for anything to come out of them. She was prepared to unleash a good bit of her summons on them, the second those people came out of the bush. She let her guard down a tiny bit when she saw Leona pop through those bushes, but then she heard even more footsteps behind her. She probably got herself caught, which was very bad for the both of them. Aura did not want to die because of this. As she readied her story book, she saw as 14 bandits came out through the bushes Leona came through. They had grins on their faces that showed that they were ready for blood. They didn't seem too strong, though. They're strengths were more of those that were novices/beginners that were trying to impress their upper ranks by defeating some guild mages. However, Aura wouldn't let them kill her or Leona. So, she whispered into Leona's ear the plan. What she said was, "Okay, these bandits don't look that strong. I don't feel a magical presence on them, which means that we can obviously outplay them. if we were able to take on our own set of bandits, we would be able to take them out easily. If you take 7, I'll be able to take the other 7 with ease."

Before she could say anymore, she was interrupted by the loud yell of one of the male bandits. His voice was extremely teen-like as he yelled out, "What are you girls talking about? Doing each other's hair? Or maybe even a sleepover?" With a mocking tone in his voice, he began to charge at them while yelling out, "You idiotic girls will not disrespect me. " With his sword in the air, he ran without even looking down for hidden obstacles. So, Aura threw her book down at his feet, as he tripped on it. Before it was too late, she called the book back to her arm and quickly summoned out one of her spirits. She reached into the page and quickly and fluidly took out the silver key it withheld. Then, she said with a loud confident voice, "Come out and help me soar above these bandits. Don't let them be more devious than you could ever be. Open gate of the Trickster, Pegasus!" With that, a golden beam shot up as it exploded into beautiful white feathers that gracefully floated down to the ground. As they cleared up, a beautiful Pegasus appeared, but the closer you got, the more devious he looked. Because the bandit that Aura tripped was so close, he was too astonished by the mythical beast, that he got stunned. Then, Aura hopped onto Pegasus's back and said to Leona, "Let's go through with my plan. If you need help, I will come to your aid. Until then, I'll deal with my half and you deal with yours. I'll take the right of the group and you the left." As she nodded towards Leona, she ordered Pegasus to take off

As she approached the tripped bandit, she ordered Pegasus to kick him hard enough to be knocked out. In compliance, he did. He seemed to actually enjoy it, so much in fact that it scared Aura a tiny bit. However, she couldn't talk to Pegasus about his psychotic tendencies right now. Especially not when they were in the middle of battle. So, Aura directed Pegasus forward and charged into the group of 6 left that were split from the other group. They seemed to have the same idea Aura had, but with more than 2 people. Luckily, Aura was extremely prepared for this. She knew very well that she didn't want to summon a second summon, so she enlarged her spell book and thought it would be a good idea for her to be able to use it as a weapon. So, as Pegasus flew into the crowd, she held out her story book and clamped onto it like a machine that was meant to do that. This began to hit the faces of many bandits as they laid on the ground in pain from them being hit in the face by a book. Aura knew that she couldn't just leave them like that, or else they would barge in when she and Leona fought the higher ups. So, she ordered Pegasus to do what he did to the stunned bandit to all the rest of the bandits on the ground. Aura watched as Pegasus stomped on their backs, leaving the bandits completely knocked out. Aura didn't know if it was because of the pain, some pressure point Pegasus hit, or what but she knew for sure that he didn't kill them. So, she looked over to Leona and prepared to help her if it was needed.

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Leona watched as Aura summoned a Pegasus and delivered a lopsided beating to seven of the bandits. The blonde had to remember to never make Aura an enemy. Now only seven bandits remained. They had the advantage of numbers, but they had made a big mistake by coming out to fight in the open. Now Leona could swing her ram dao without risking getting it caught in thick brush.

"Your sword's gonna look great over the fireplace!" One of them taunted.

"Then come and get it." Leona returned the taunt.

One of the bandits charged at her. Leona waited until he drew close, then swung with the flat part of her sword. She nailed him directly in the face, sending him to the ground. Leona ducked as another one threw a knife, then raced to the attack with a sword. The fallen bandit grabbed her right ankle, restricting her movement.

Leona quickly drew her knife and stabbed it through his hand, causing the bandit to scream in pain before passing out from shock; Leona quickly wiped it off and sheathed the knife. The second bandit had reached her and was about to bring his sword down when she jumped out of the way just in time. She got to her feet and blocked his second swing with her ram dao. He got close during the blade clash, then swiftly spun under her sword, forced it high, and kicked her in the stomach.

Leona staggered backward as another bandit charged in. The second attacker came in swinging, forcing the blonde on the defensive. She was having to block and dodge, but she was starting to get outmaneuvered. It was time to take the offensive.

When one of them raised his sword, Leona stepped forward and made a thrust with her ram dao, stabbing him in the stomach. It was not a deep stab, but enough to get him to back off. The second enemy approached from behind, but Leona spun around and hit him with the flat part of the sword. While he was dazed, Leona hit him with a Crescent Wave, knocking him backwards.

Leona was ambushed by a bandit wielding a knife. He made a series of quick slashes, cutting her across the right forearm before following with a kick. Leona dodged the kick and countered with a Lion's Tail Sweep. He jumped over it and kicked her in the face, sending her sprawling backwards. He kicked her sword aside.

"Looks like I'm getting your sword after all." He said as his six remaining friends surrounded her. They started laughing as they closed in. They thought that victory was near. The bandit she had stabbed earlier was clutching his stomach with one hand and wielding a longsword in the other.

"You'll pay for stabbing me!" He shouted. Leona had to think fast. All six of them were advancing in a slow and threatening manner. She raised a fist into the air and a miniature tornado formed around it.

"We don't accept surrenders." One of them said. Leona laughed. What made them think she was surrendering?

Leona slammed her fist into the ground, using her Storm Impact spell. The expanding dome of wind sent all six staggering, giving her enough breathing room to run past them. By the time they turned around, she was in the air and using her Air Burst spell. Eight tennis ball-sized balls of wind slammed into them, knocking three out and making the others drop their weapons.

She raced and recovered her ram dao. Now it was time to finish the fight. All three of them raced towards her, but a right-to-left horizontal swing of her sword cut all three of them across the stomach. She bowled one over with a punch to the face, then knocked another one out with a blow to the head from her sword pommel. The third cut her across the right forearm with a hidden knife and followed up with a punch to the face.

Leona staggered and spit out blood. He picked up a longsword and charged. She waited until he was close, then used a Lion's Tail Sweep. The sweep kick tripped him in mid-stride... he fell face forward and Leona winced as she heard the sound of a weapon piercing flesh. Just like with Jacob Goodnight, he had fallen and stabbed himself.

The last bandit groaned as he stood up. Leona was waiting for him. His eyes widened before the flat part of the sword connected with his face, knocking him out.

"Well, we've taken care of this bunch." Leona stated confidently. She took off her backpack and fished out some hydrogen peroxide and some gauze. She treated her wounds and bandaged them, then turned to Aura.

"I think their forward camp's in the brush. I saw some severed heads on poles before I came racing out. It's worth looking around that area." Leona suggested as she closed up and shouldered her backpack again.

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Aura looked over too see that Leona had successfully defeated the enemies. However, she did see that the girl was probably tired, so Aura wondered if she needed to rest a bit more. As Aura walked up to the blonde haired girl to ask, she heard Leona wanted to go forward. Surprised, Aura said quietly, "Yea...that sounds fine...or whatever." Aura really didn't want to overwork the girl that she was supposed to work with, but Aura guessed that she didn't have a choice. So, she just kept walking forward and went towards the area that Leona had spoken of. It sort of creeped Aura out that she saw poles with heads on them, but Aura couldn't throw up now. Especially with someone as resilient as Leona by her side. Aura gulped and said, "So then, which direction was it?"

As Aura and Leona neared the camp, Aura said to Leona, "Please don't get caught this time. We can't really afford to be vulnerable, especially since you're a bit injured." Aura glared at Leona, but with a caring look in her eyes. She really didn't want to lose someone as talented as Leona. So, Aura began sneaking up towards a little bush that overlooked the bandit camp Leona had perceived was there. Aura looked down to see as a bandit was walking towards the camp. He seemed to be frightened, which could only mean one thing. Aura made a quiet little gasp as she looked over to Leona and said to her, "Oh no...I think there was a bandit that somehow escaped. It couldn't have been one of the bandits we defeated earlier, so there must've been one more hiding away." Aura gulped as she saw the bandit rush towards the doors. As flap of the tent opened, 3 bandits opened them. Luckily, Aura could see the inside of the tent from where she was. What was inside, was one other bandit. She could sense each of the bandits in the front having tiny bits of magic. The other inside though, had immense magical power that sort of caught Aura a little off guard. She yelped a bit, and did what she asked Leona not to do. All of a sudden, she saw 2 of the 3 bandits raise up crossbows. The arrows in each one seemed to have some sort of fire essence to them. With a click, 2 arrows were sent straight towards the two.

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Leona realized that her earlier antics were kind of dumb. She only survived because Aura made sure of it. She followed Aura into the camp and was soon surprised to find a trio of bandits emerging from a tent plus one more standing nearby. How were they tipped off? Aura provided the answer.

"So one of them was observing us the whole time, huh? They're smarter than they look." Leona commented to her companion. She felt magical energy signatures. These guys had some magic ability. It was nothing to be terribly concerned about, but they were no ordinary grunts. She would have to be a little more careful this fight.

Leona watched as two of the bandits aimed and fired crossbows at the pair. The arrows had a magical fire to them. They did not want to get hit with those, so Leona jumped in front of Aura and used her ram dao to try and block the arrows. The sword blocked the first, but the second arrow grazed Leona's right wrist, burning it enough for her to drop the sword.

"You only grazed her! Your aim's gotten bad since we moved here!" The first crossbow bandit taunted the other.

"It's OK. They won't get out of her alive!" He replied to his colleague as he loaded another bolt. A third bandit who was dual-wielding scimitars rushed at Leona. She picked up her ram dao and attempted to defend, but he deftly spun around her and kicked her in the back, sending her staggering forward. While the blonde stood up, he raced in and slashed at her.

She jumped back just in time, but her shirt was cut around the stomach. Suddenly two more bolts came whistling by. Leona ducked under them right as the dual-wielding bandit kicked her in the face. Leona fell down; the bandit then performed a jumping downward stab with both blades aimed at her chest. The blonde barely managed to roll out of the way, but her back was cut by the sharp blades.

The bandit laughed as Leona knelt and clutched her sword for support. Leona raised a hand and opened it wide. Claws of wind gathered onto her hand, which she swung at the laughing man. Her Wind Claw hit him in the chest, cutting his shirt and causing him to bleed.

"That was my favorite shirt! I'LL PUT YOUR WHOLE BODY ON A STAKE AFTER I RAM IT THROUGH YOUR MOUTH! I'LL ROAST YOU ALIVE!" He shouted in anger. It was Leona's turn to laugh. She had exacted revenge for her shirt being cut. He rushed forward with renewed determination to kill her. His swords erupted in flame as he stopped in front of her and began swinging wildly.

Leona rolled to one side and stabbed, hitting him in the side. He cursed and swung at her, grazing her left shoulder and starting a small fire she barely put out in time. He punched her in the face, then punched her repeatedly until she dropped her sword and fell onto her back. He kicked it aside and began laughing.

"Now you die!" he boasted while dextrously twirling both swords in his hands. The other bandits started cheering... he was showing off before he made the kill. Leona waited for him to pounce, then drew her knife as he jumped in for another downward stab. She held it straight up; she knew she was going to take a hit, but killing him would be worth it. His eyes widened as he realized what was going on, but it was too late to stop it.

Leona clenched her teeth as her left shoulder and right side were cut by the descending blades. The bandit stared at her and his lips were moving, but no words were coming out. Leona did not wait for a final speech. She shoved him off of her and rolled to the left. Three bandits were left.

"Aura, I'm kinda beat up. I'll help you if I can, but I can't promise anything. Can you handle the rest of these guys?" Leona asked her teammate. Leona's head was hurting from the repeated punches. Her white shirt looked like she had rolled around in a pit of cherries. The blonde was trying to get up, but it was hard going. Part of her wanted to just lie there, but Aura might need her help to clean out the bandit camp.

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Aura saw as Leona got hit by a arrow, and she felt a scream coming up. However, she knew she couldn't show weakness in front of her partner, and bandits. So, she muffled her cries in her hands and saw as Leona jumped towards the bandits. They didn't seem to be too scared of her, but that changed once she jumped at one of the bandits. In awe, Aura saw as she fought the man valiantly. It did send her a wave of horror when she killed the man, though. It was shocking to see an actual person die in front of her. It was different to kill a monster, but to kill a human, it sort of made Aura puke. After her family died in that fire, she could never look at another dead person again. So, when she saw Leona kill that man, it made her feel nauseous to the point where she threw up in the bushes that she was next to. As she did this, she stood back up, and ran straight to Leona. As she walked up to her, Leona asked for Aura to deal with the rest of them while she rested on the ground. As Aura mustered up her will to fight, she said to Leona, "Ok. Just wait there, I will heal you up right after I take care of these three." As she looked towards the group, she saw that there were only two for some reason. It was as though the hidden bandit from before had just ran in fear. However, Aura still had 2 more to deal with before she could understand the whereabouts of that other bandit.

She saw as one of the crossbow bandits said with an annoyed voice, "Yo, stop talking and let us kill you." Aura rolled her eyes as she walked up towards the bandits and said, "I'd like to see you try." With that, Aura enlarged her book as she summoned to her hands, the keys of Goldilocks and Medusa. As she raised the keys in the air, she yelled aloud, "From the depths of chaos, come out and defeat these foes. Open gate of the Thief, and Cursed! Come out Medusa and Goldilocks." All of a sudden, two beams of lights shot into the air as a Lamia like creature came out of it with a girl who seemed to be emanating evil. Both of them glared at the crossbow fiends as they looked over in fear of them. They obviously did not want to fight the two of them, but they knew that they couldn't leave their post either. As they raised up their crossbows, they shot straight at the two summons. With extreme speed and force, Goldilocks cut the bolts coming towards the both of them in half. With a gasp, they both shot 2 more bolts each. Again, Goldilocks cut them in half. They constantly kept trying, which made Goldlocks yawn, so much so that she seemed bored by doing this. They both kept constantly backing up and shooting. The second they ran out of bolts, Medusa looked over to Aura and asked with a bored tone in her voice, "Can I do it now?" Aura shrugged and said to her, "Do what you want." So, Medusa raised up her bow and shot out 2 arrows. Each went towards one of the bandits as they ran off into the distance. Her aim was impeccable as they just hit below the skin of the warriors, and pinned their clothing onto the trees in front of them. Medusa then put her bow and the back of her back and said to Aura, "I'll be waiting over there until you need me. Don't make a mistake, or I swear I will inject you with as much venom as Gorgonly possible." She hissed at Aura as she did what she said she would. Goldilocks however, just fell like getting sent back to her story. Apparently, she was in the middle of battling one of the three bears and she really wanted the taste of their blood. Disturbed, Aura sent her back with joy. So, that just left her Leona and Medusa. As Aura walked over to Leona, she summoned her turkey summon and gave Leona a turkey leg, while saying, "I sense an immense magical force in that tent. I think they are the leader, or something like that. Finish up, and we can attack him. He or she is probably waiting for us right now." As she tried looking through the flap of the tent, she saw darkness. Something about this felt weird to her, but she couldn't back away now.

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Leona felt bad when Aura threw up in the bushes after the bandit swordsman was killed. That was entirely her fault. Maybe she should have tried to knock out the man instead. She had already knocked out thirteen of the bandits not even an hour ago. What had caused her to kill him instead of sparing his life?

Desierto was harsh and unforgiving. Leona was a product of that environment. She had learned early on to fight or die. Even when human enemies or predatory wildlife were not at the door, desert dwellers had to fight to find water, to find food, to even live to see the next day. She did not take joy in killing others, but it was a grim necessity.

"I'm not proud of killing him, but it had to be done. It was him or me. And it wasn't gonna be me. I'm sorry about what happened, Aura." Leona apologized to Aura. The blonde was pretty sure the damage had already been done. As soon as the food was delivered, Aura would likely end their partnership and refuse to do any future jobs with her.

That train of thought was interrupted when Aura gave her a turkey leg. At first the blonde was puzzled as to how that would help, but the answer soon became clear. It was meant to be a healing item, one Leona was in dire need of. She quickly crawled over to it and began to eat the leg. As she did so she felt herself recovering, recovering enough to aid Aura in the final fight.

"Thanks Aura. Now let's do this. There's only one more left, and that's the big guy." Leona said to her companion, rising to her feet. Leona retrieved her ram dao for the battle ahead. This battle would be different. She was not going to kill the man.

"I'll do my best to only knock him out." Leona stated as she hefted the sword to her shoulder. The blonde might be handicapping herself, but she did not want to alienate Aura any further. She wanted this job to at least end on something resembling a high note.

As if on cue, the bandit leader stormed out of the tent. He was a bald mountain of a man rippling with muscle. A set of brass knuckles was on each hand. He was clearly ready to fight.

"I can't believe it! All of my men defeated by a pair of girls! How embarrassing!" He fumed. He glanced over the scene in the camp. His expression changed from fury to resignation.

"You can't get good help these days. If you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself." He lamented. Leona had enough of his complaining. It was fight time.

"You, Blondie! You look like a good fight! I'm gonna beat you first, then I'm gonna get your girlfriend!" The man bellowed.

"OK, Big Guy. We're both kinda busy, so I'll make this quick." Leona retorted as she prepared a Crescent Wave. The leader guffawed as he took a step forward and his body shimmered with orange magical power. Leona launched a Crescent Wave, which he took squarely to the face. He staggered a moment before regaining his footing.

He guffawed and inhaled deeply. Leona leaped into the air to use her Air Burst spell and was casting it when he sharply exhaled outwards. He spewed magical flame that roasted the grass and singed the bottom of her boots. Leona released the Air Burst, hitting him in the chest with all eight. They dissipated on impact.

"Your pathetic magic isn't any good, Wind Mage! I'm too strong for it!" He bellowed. Leona clenched her teeth. She took a mighty leap and tried to hit him on top of the head with the flat part of her sword, but the sword was repelled by an unseen force. Upon touching the ground she was momentarily blinded and her exposed skin suffered what felt like a sunburn. Next came a crushing sensation as her legs were gripped and a flying sensation as she was thrown through the air.

She came crashing down and dropped her sword as she bounced three times and came to a stop at someone's feet. Once the blonde's vision recovered, that someone turned out to be Aura. Leona groaned as she rolled over and stood up. Her nearly crushed legs felt like jelly. Breathing was difficult and painful.

"My magic's. Worthless. But this isn't... isn't over. I'm still able to. To fight." Leona assured Aura through labored breathing. Leona grabbed her sword and faced down the giant. Hopefully Aura had a plan to finish this.

Out of desperation, Leona charged and cast an Air Burst at his legs. The eight balls were on target, but they seemed to have little effect. Still, they did not dissipate like when she targeted his body. Maybe that was the clue they needed.

[Word Count: 822] [Total Word Count: 4,133/4,000]

As Leona gave her reasoning for killing that man, Aura understood, but still couldn't shake the fact that it happened. With a shaky tone in her voice, Aura said to Leona, "It's alright, I just never thought I would see a dead body...after the funeral of my family." She felt a tiny tear fall down her cheek as she looked back towards Leona and wiped it away with a small little smile, trying to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. As Leona said she would just knock out that bandit, Aura smiled and said with a gentle and happy voice, "Thank you." As they walked in, the bandit seemed to immediately jump for Leona. Aura stood there, watching as Leona and the bandit fought. Aura noticed something about the magic of the mage. It seemed to be a protective chest piece that allowed him to nullify and debuff all enemies, by using the magic within the user to counter others. As Leona fell back, Aura said to Leona, "I got this, rest up a bit." With that, she called Medusa to Aura's side and got ready to fight the bandit.

Medusa looked at the bandit and rolled her eyes as she hissed at Aura. She said to her, "You want me to fight this weakling? Is this really worth my time?" Aura just rolled her eyes back towards the gorgon and said, "Just do it, please. He's one of the leaders of the bandits from before. He has to be at least a small fight. Just whatever you do, do not hit his chestpiece. Its a strong piece of magical equipment." She said with a spiteful tone in her voice back at Aura, "Whatever." As the Medusa pulled back her bow, she shot 3 arrows at the enemy in a triangle. From what Medusa could see, her snakes picked up the angles the bandit could've went. So, she shot them at each of those areas in a traingular position. He jumped to the left and laughed as the arrow went straight through his leg. He screamed in pain as his leg bled. Aura yelled at Medusa and said, "Make sure not to kill him!" Once again, she rolled her eyes and threw another arrow at him in his arm, in order to disarm him. The second it did, he dropped his weapon as Medusa opened the eyes of all of her snakes. With a loud noise from the snakes, a large beam came from all of them as it hit the eyes of the guy. With the crackle of arrows going out of him, he turned to stone. Aura made sure that Medusa wouldn't kill him, so he knew for sure that he wasn't dead. Once the effect wore off, he would most likely just pass out. As Medusa walked over to Aura, she said to her, "Don't worry, I didn't kill him. Just petrified him, he'll be passed out once my petrification wears off though. Now, I'm going to go before my boredom literally turns me to stone." Aura nodded as Medusa escaped back to her realm.

Aura then looked over to Leona and said to her, "Welp, I guess we can get the food supply back to the cat people now." As they brought it back, the cat people thanked them and gave them their rewards for the job. They hoped that they would see the two again, as they waved them off. Aura smiled as she waved back towards them with glee in her eyes. She was proud of herself for saving a town from famine. It was a goal of hers to save a town from a bad event, and now she can check that off her list. She smiled to herself as she walked back down the road to a CS portal. She wondered if she ever would see Leona again.

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